Interests

Particulars

I grew up in Toronto, and have been at Queen's since 1991.

Research Statement

Most of my research has used historicist and post-colonial modes of criticism. I have done significant work in archives, bibliography, the interaction between literature and the visual arts, and in textual criticism. I am currently involved in editing the letters of Charles Dickens, and in producing the authoritative critical edition of Dickens's last completed noel,
Our Mutual Friend.

TELEVISION & RADIO WORK:

1999 Forging the World of Great Expectations - broadcast by the BBC on 17 April 1999 to accompany the dramatisation of Great Expectations. Participation consisted of interview on prisons, criminality, penal transportation, prison reform, and on being a gentleman. Programme was subsequently made into a 2-hour video, and marketed to schools and universities.
2000 Consultant for BBC's David Copperfield (broadcast on 25-26 December 1999); script writer for "David Copperfield: Dickens's Favourite Child" (educational programme produced by BBC)
2003 Consultant and interviewee for Fiona Shaw's BBC Radio 4 series Lend Me Your Ears, on the sound-world of Dickens; areas covered include the workplace, the home, the streets, places of entertainment, and the river.
2004 Consultant for Shine Productions, for Sky TV programme on "The Real British Suburbia"
Consultant for IWC Media, for Sky TV programme on "The Victorians and Sport"
2005 Interviewee for BBC review of Andrew Davies's TV adaptation of Bleak House
2007 Consultant on ITV's "Written Britain" series, presented by Melvin Bragg
I am also a frequent contributor to BBC Radio on Jewish affairs and Middle East politics and culture